Priest, King, Reader

Uche Anizor’s Kings and Priests is a useful contribution to the burgeoning library of theological interpretation. Anizor uses the biblical categories of king and priest to harmonize a stress the theological dimension of Scripture interpretation (God’s initiative in revelation) with the ethical dimension (what kinds of people make good Scripture readers? what are the virtues of reading?). King and priest resolve this dilemma because kings and priests are both chosen (theology) and yet are called to conform to that chosen status (ethics).

He offers a theology of priesthood, stressing the connection of priest and word. His discussion of the connection of word and kingship is particularly illuminating. From Deuteronomy 17 and selected Psalms, he concludes that virtuous reading involves “humility, fear, readiness to submit to the law, and quick obedience” (67). Psalm 119 has a wealth of material for reflection on the virtues and dispositions of kingly readers: A kingly reader treasure, longs for, delights in, stands in awe of the Torah (79). 

Several questions occurred to me as I read this book. First, Anizor emphasizes the royal priesthood of the church. Every Christian is a priestly and kingly reader and teacher of Scripture. I wonder, though, what “reading” meant to people in the ancient world, or in pre-modern Europe for that matter. Was everyone in ancient Israel literate enough to be a royal-priestly reader? Perhaps there’s a case to be made for that, but Anizor never addresses that historical question.

And that, second, is related to his lack of concern for the role of official pastors and teachers in the church. He includes a chapter on Luther’s priesthood of the baptized (thumbs way up for that) but never explores whether there is a role for highly skilled, highly trained readers, or what that role might be.

Finally, Anizor’s stress on the royal dimensions of reading is excellent, but the book offered a fairly thin account of what reading kings are to do. Royal readers are blessed by reading and doing, but does their reading produce anything recognizably kingly? Joshua is a royal reader (1:8), but we know that he meditated on the word of God to prepare him for conquest.